Church Commissioners

Religion: Education

Julian Knight: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to support (a) education and (b) the promotion of values-based learning in schools.

Andrew Selous: Church of England Schools provide an education to approximately one million children a day. A quarter of all primary schools, 1,540 academies, 280 Multi Academy Trusts, and 500 independent schools across England have a Church of England ethos.The Church of England Foundation for Education Leadership supports teachers, headteachers and senior management teams alongside 22,500 governors to develop the skills they need. More information about the Foundation is available here: https://www.cefel.org.uk/In each diocese a Diocesan Board of Education supports church schools, which represents an annual investment of over £15 millionThe Church of England vision for education focuses on the development of the common good for the whole community, prioritising the development of four key areas: wisdom, hope, community and dignity. More information about the vision, including detail about how it is lived out in schools, is available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/education-and-schools/vision-education

Church of England: Greater Manchester

James Daly: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, how many Parishes currently have interregnums in the DioceseofManchester.

Andrew Selous: The appointment of parish priests is a matter for diocesan bishops. The information is not held centrally by the National Church Institutions.You may wish to enquire with the Manchester Diocese: https://www.manchester.anglican.org/about-us/our-staff/or with the Bishop of Manchester: https://www.manchester.anglican.org/about-us/bishops/bishopmanchester.php

Religious Freedom

Julian Knight: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to help (a) tackle religious persecution and (b) protect religious freedom.

Andrew Selous: Last month the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, welcomed the UN Security Council’s adoption of a joint UK / UAE Government resolution highlighting threats to Freedom of Religion or Belief. The steps taken by the UK Government followed a review authored by the Bishop at the invitation of the then Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, the implementation of which has since become Government Policy. In a vote, the Security Council adopted the proposal, which will see the UN Secretary General produce an oral report on Freedom of Religion or Belief related threats to international peace and security. The initial deadline is 14th June 2024, with the intention of such a statement becoming an annual event.Religious persecution and freedom of religion were on the agenda at the gathering of the global Anglican Communion at the Lambeth Conference in 2022. At the Conference a range of ‘calls’, or priorities for the Church worldwide, were made to tackle these issues. The documents relating to Freedom of Religion and religious persecution can be found under the Inter-Faith, Christian Unity and Human Dignity sections, here: https://www.lambethconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Lambeth-Calls-English-2023.pdfThe Church of England remains closely involved with the work of the FCDO in supporting the work of His Majesty’s Ambassadors and diplomats and the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief. More information about the work of the International Panel can be found here: https://www.ippforb.com/about/

Church of England: Technology

Julian Knight: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to use (a) digital platforms and (b) other technologies to connect with wider audiences.

Andrew Selous: The Church of England, through the work of its central Communications team, has a presence on the majority of social media channels and is producing content for a variety of different audiences and age groups. It has developed a smart speaker app which is useable with ‘Alexa’, provides liturgical resources via the Daily Prayer App, and recorded services to enable people who may not be able to attend a church in person to still participate in worship.In the month of May 2023, the most recent for which material is available, Church of England content received 8.6 million impressions and the audience using the materials grew by an additional 4,000 unique users. Nearly three-quarters of a million people engaged with materials developed for the Coronation and the Church of England received 40,000 enquiries from the public via its various social/digital media platforms.

Churches: Repairs and Maintenance

Julian Knight: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to (a) preserve and (b) restore (i) historic church buildings and (ii) heritage sites.

Andrew Selous: In 2020 the Church of England assessed the volume of work needed in its churches and cathedrals for preservation, repair and maintenance. The pandemic caused a considerable delay in the ability of parish churches and cathedrals to undertake repairs, which has caused a backlog of work. The Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the National Church Institutions assists parishes, dioceses and cathedrals in assessing the nature and priorities of the work required and supports them with guidance and advice.The work of preservation, repair and maintenance is predominantly undertaken at a local level by thousands of unpaid volunteers, with financial help and support from donors and local grant-making charities.By means of an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, the Government has recently agreed to clarify the law on churches being able to access Local Authority grants. This is very welcome and comes in response to many years of advocacy by church, heritage and Local Authority groups. The removal of ambiguity means that Local Authorities and parish councils in England will be able to issue grants to churches that will enable seed funding to repair, restore and upgrade facilities, which will enable churches to continue to serve their local communities as worship spaces, community hubs, and through social action projects.

Church of England: Finance

Julian Knight: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to ensure transparency and accountability in its financial operations.

Andrew Selous: The Archbishops’ Council and Church Commissioners are accountable to the General Synod where their annual reports and spending plans are debated and reviewed. Additionally the Church Commissioners lay their annual report before Parliament for consideration, copies of which are available in the Library and on the Church of England Website. https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/church-commissioners-for-england-annual-report-2022.pdf As Second Church Estates Commissioner, I answer to the House of Commons for matters that include the operational and financial activities of the National Church Institutions.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Animals: Imports

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to consult on changes to the non-commercial importation of live animals.

Trudy Harrison: There are no policy changes to the imports of non-commercial live animals. Importers from EU member States and EFTA countries currently benefit from a transitional period. At the end of the transitional period, we will be operating a global model for goods from the European Union and the rest of the world based on risk. The Draft Target Operating Model (TOM) published by the Government on 5th of April does not apply to non-commercial movements of pet animals defined by Regulation 576/2013. Later in 2024, we will expect these pet animals to be checked at designated points of entry while commercial movements of animals will be subject to veterinary checks at Border Control Posts.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Remote Working

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the civil service headquarters occupancy data, updated on 6 July 2023, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of occupancy rates on her Department's performance during June 2023.

Mark Spencer: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 13 June 2023, PQ 187692.

UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what is the estimated total (a) construction and (b) annual running costs of the Border Posts being constructed at Belfast, Larne, Warrenpoint and Foyle ports.

Mark Spencer: The estimated costs of SPS Inspection Facilities at Northern Ireland ports are: (a) capital (financial years 2023/2024 to 2027/2028): £192.385m(b) resource (each financial year): circa £33m These costs include provision for optimism bias in accordance with HMT guidance and are expected to be the maximum costs.

Reptiles: Import Controls

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the financial impact on reptile owners of the changes proposed to regulations by her Department on the health risk of importing reptiles from the EU.

Mark Spencer: Live animals are inherently high risk. They cannot be kept in sealed containers and some of them pose not only a potential animal health risk but also a risk for the environment in the case of non-native species or invasive pests and a risk to the trade on endangered species (for example reptiles). Movements of reptiles from Europe currently benefit from a transitional period during which reptile importers have free movement that applied prior to EU exit. As set out in the draft Target Operating Model, later in 2024 we expect all checks on reptiles (except pet animals) to be carried out at a live animal Border Control Post (BCP), as they become operational. Defra has not made any financial impact assessment on imports of reptiles.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether officials in his Department have had discussions with their counterparts in the Department of  Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Department on the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill and its compliance with UN Security Council resolution 2334.

David Rutley: Yes. FCDO officials have been in regular contact with their counterparts from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities throughout the development of the bill. They have discussed a number of issues, including the compliance with UNSCR 2334.

Pakistan: Christianity

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support Christians who are being persecuted in Pakistan.

Leo Docherty: Protecting Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), including for minority communities, remains central to the UK Government's human rights engagement in Pakistan. On 27 June, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for South Asia, discussed the treatment of religious minorities, including the Christian community, with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada. Lord Ahmad spoke about the importance of defending freedom of religion or belief for all at Kellogg College, University of Oxford on 16 June. The British Commission in Islamabad continues to engage across the political spectrum on the need to respect human rights and uphold the rule of law.

South Korea: Foreign Relations

Mark Logan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has taken recent steps to strengthen (a) security, (b) cultural and (c) trade relations with South Korea through (i) the British Council LINK programme and (ii) other means.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK and the Republic of Korea are close friends. We are both free and open societies with vibrant democracies and a shared commitment to upholding global security, democratic principles and the rule of law. Our bilateral framework spans political, economic, military and scientific fields. We have strengthened international collaboration and knowledge sharing through the British Council LINK programme, connecting mid-career Korean civil servants to the UK public sector. I [Minister for the Indo-Pacific] visited South Korea in May to celebrate 140 years of diplomatic relations and further our dialogue on development and economic security. The UK will continue building upon our close relationship with the Republic of Korea and deepen our cooperation on trade and security challenges.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Homes England: Levelling Up Fund

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will hold discussions with Homes England on coordination of Levelling Up funding.

Rachel Maclean: The Department continues to work alongside Homes England, as the Government's Housing and Regeneration Agency.

Independent Faith Engagement Review

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what questions were asked to faith communities during interviews for the Independent Faith Engagement Review.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who responded to the call for evidence for the Independent Faith Engagement Review by (a) faith group and (b) organisation.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who gave evidence in person to the Independent Faith Engagement Review; and how many and what proportion of those people also provided written evidence through the call for evidence.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of (a) respondents to the call for evidence and (b) people who gave evidence in person to the Independent Faith Engagement Review were from the Sikh community.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with which faith organisations the Government has a policy of not engaging.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason his Department decided that the Independent Faith Engagement Review call for evidence should be open for 28 days; and whether he sought independent advice on this decision.

Dehenna Davison: In relation to the call for evidence, information is in the process of being deleted according to our published privacy notice.In relation to additional in-person meetings and any written evidence submitted to the reviewer outside the call for evidence, I want to re-iterate that as an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom was free to meet with any individuals or organisations he chose to inform his review. He was not under any obligation to inform officials of his meetings or to pass on any written evidence.As an Independent reviewer, Colin Bloom met with a with a wide range of stakeholders - including charities, organisations, academics and other sectoral experts and key individuals of all faiths and none - whom he deemed to have relevant insight into particular themes relevant to his report. Given the sensitive issues covered in his review, Colin Bloom was committed to preserving respondents' anonymity so they could speak freely. While these anonymised sources and external analysis have informed the review, the views and recommendations expressed are Mr Bloom's own.With this in mind, we can provide the following information:The call for evidence was conducted in adherence with the Cabinet Office's consultation principles, including consideration of the length of the consultation. Given the sheer volume of responses (over 21,000), the length of the consultation period clearly provided sufficient time for individuals and organisations to respond.The breakdown of respondents by declared faith was as follows:ReligionRespondent CountPercentage of RespondentsChristian987447.01%Muslim418919.94%Hindu252212.01%Atheist/Humanist246611.74%Pagan3811.81%Sikh3541.69%Jain2531.20%Ahmadi Muslim2471.18%Jewish2101.00%Buddhist710.34%Bahá'í470.22%Quaker380.18%Spiritual290.14%Spiritualist140.07%Zoroastrian100.05%Taoist40.02%Dual religious identities820.39%Multiple religious identities540.26%Prefer not to say800.38%N/A780.37%

Housing Ombudsman Service

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support the Housing Ombudsman to manage backlogs.

Dehenna Davison: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 190204 on 27 June 2023.

Levelling Up Fund

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has with Cabinet colleagues on using levelling up funding to support low income areas.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of Levelling Up funding on (a) economic and (b) social inequality.

Dehenna Davison: The Department's Levelling Up programme has an ambitious agenda to transform the UK. Our levelling up funds are distributed fairly and equitably around the UK and we use a mix of approaches to achieve this, including competitive and allocative models. I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 142760 on 23 February 2023.

Home Office

Visas: Migrant Workers

Mark Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people without work visas who are working in the building sector.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office does not have an estimate of the number of people working illegally specifically on app-based work platforms.

General Practitioners: Migrant Workers

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2023 to Question 191982 on General Practitioners: Migrant Workers, when she plans to the four-month visa extension for newly trained international medical graduates to take effect.

Robert Jenrick: We will be amending the immigration rules shortly to cater for International Medical Graduate GPs arriving from the Autumn so they can benefit from the four-month extension automatically. We are also working closely with the relevant UK health bodies and UK Visas and Immigration to ensure that this is as straight forward as possible for those already in country, and those due to complete their training this year.In conjunction with these changes, we continue work to encourage more GP surgeries to become Home Office sponsors. This will allow surgeries to recruit international medical graduates more efficiently on completion of their training.

Visas: Graduates

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to close the graduate visa route.

Robert Jenrick: There is currently no plan to close the Graduate route. We keep our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they serve the UK’s best interests and reflect our priorities.

Asylum: Portland Port

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May to Question 185775 on Asylum: Portland Port, what criteria are used to determine the appropriate space standard for the Bibby Stockholm barge; and what steps she is taking to (a) ensure fire safety and (b) allow safe evacuation of the vessel when operating at full capacity; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: We ensure that accommodation provided is adequate and meets regulatory standards where required.

Asylum: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2023 to Question 191108 on Asylum: Children, whether she made an assessment before November 2021 of the potential merits of introducing legislation to give Ministers power to direct a local authority in England to provide accommodation to an unaccompanied child; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: The rise in the number of small boat crossings in recent years has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people. Out of necessity, and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to maintain the temporarily use of hotels to give some unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found.  Since 15 February 2022, all local authorities with children’s services in the UK have been directed to participate in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) to ensure UASC receive the critical care they need. We have also offered incentivised funding to local authorities to move these young people in the care system. Between 1 July 2021 and 31 March 2023, the NTS transferred 4,875 children to local authorities with children’s services which is over six times the number of transfers in the same time frame in previous years (between October 2019 – June 2021 there were 793 transfers). We are taking a new power in the Illegal Migration Bill to provide or arrange for the provision of accommodation for unaccompanied children. We are also taking a power to direct a local authority in England to provide accommodation to an unaccompanied child, reflecting our position that any time spent in Home Office accommodation should be temporary. Responsibilities under the Children Act 1989 which apply to local authorities in England with respect to unaccompanied children in their area applied before November 2021 and continue to apply.

Undocumented Migrants

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the category for recorded detections in the UK in her Department’s Irregular migration to the UK statistics, how many of the (a) 7,257 detections in 2018, (b) 8,239 detections in 2019, (c) 5,465 detections in 2020, (d) 5,065 detections in 2021, (e) 3,465 detections in 2022 and (f) 765 detections in Q1 of 2023 were made up of detections at ports serviced by the juxtaposed controls.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the category for recorded detections in the UK in her Department’s Irregular migration to the UK statistics, how many of the (a) 1,052 detections in 2018, (b) 962 detections in 2019, (c) 841 detections in 2020, (d) 665 detections in 2021, (e) 310 detections in 2022 and (f) 57 detections in Q1 of 2023 were made up of detections of individuals in lorries and shipping containers.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office does not publish data on recorded detections at UK ports broken down by where they were found, in the Irregular Migration to the UK statistics release.The Home Office does not publish data on recorded detections in the UK broken down by detections at ports serviced by juxtaposed controls, in the Irregular Migration to the UK statistics release.

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on whether any asylum seekers who have crossed the English Channel in a small boat were Afghans who had previously applied to be relocated to the UK via the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and had not received a response to their application.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested is not held in a reportable format and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would require a manual trawl of case records to retrieve.

Asylum: Housing

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to introduce a quota to determine the number of adult asylum seekers placed in each (a) local authority area and (b) parliamentary constituency.

Robert Jenrick: From 13 April 2022, all local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales are considered a dispersal area and will need to take part in asylum dispersal. This is to ensure a fair and equitable accommodation spread of asylum seekers across the UK.We have asked local authorities across the United Kingdom to provide the Home Office with plans for dispersal within their nation or region and have agreed targets, based on those plans, for every local authority and region in the UK to deliver by the end of 2023.As of March 31st 2023, there are no supported asylum seekers being accommodated in Arfon, Wales.The latest Home Office figures holds show that Wales holds 2.6% of supported asylum seekers when Wales makes up 5.2% of the UK’s population. The current number of asylum seekers being accommodated in Wales is lower than it was in June 2020, despite the significant increase in asylum claims. Currently, Wales is considerably off track meeting their dispersal target.The Standard Operating Procedure sets out that when a site is identified for use on the Asylum Support Contracts, the Deputy Director of Asylum Support will initially notify the Chief Executive of the relevant local authority and the Member of Parliament.If you would like to put forward specific proposals, please do contact the Home Office at: rasiengagementhubregionalconsultation@homeoffice.gov.uk(opens in a new tab) and officials will happily discuss this in greater detail with you.

Department of Health and Social Care

NHS: Health and Safety

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has conducted a recent health and safety risk assessment of NHS estates.

Will Quince: The Department has not conducted a recent health and safety risk assessment of National Health Service estates.NHS organisations are responsible for undertaking health and safety risk assessments for their estate. The assessments will be part of their own local policies and procedures. They will be consistent with national legislation such as The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and guidance and standards that specifically apply to the NHS; for example, the Health Technical Memorandum 05-01: Managing healthcare fire safety.

Clinical Trials

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made in implementing the recommendations of the Commercial clinical trials in the UK: the Lord O’Shaughnessy review, published 25 May 2023.

Will Quince: On 26 May the Government published its initial response to the Lord O’Shaughnessy review into commercial clinical trials in the United Kingdom. This welcomed all recommendations in principle and made five headline commitments. A fuller response on all the recommendations and an implementation update and longer-term plan will be published in the autumn.

Nurses: Students

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average retention rate for nursing students in the North West was as of 30 June 2023.

Will Quince: The information is not held in the format requested.

NHS England: Subsidiary Companies

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of industrial action by NHS staff over the establishment of wholly owned subsidiary companies; and whether he plans to update guidance on the issue.

Will Quince: No assessment has been made and we have no plans to update the guidance.

Prescriptions: Pre-payment

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department plans to require the NHS Business Service Authority to provide reminders to patients whose prepayment certificates are due to expire.

Maria Caulfield: There are no plans for such a requirement.It is the responsibility of the prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) holder to ensure that it is valid each time it is used. For annual certificates where a postal or email address is available, NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) issue reminders to the address or email provided by the PPC holder when their PPC is about to expire.Currently NHS BSA do not issue reminders for 3-month certificates if it requires a physical letter to be sent due to postal and paper costs. In the Terms and Conditions, applicants are reminded to notify NHS BSA of any changes to their name, address or email, to buy a new PPC in good time and of the possibility of receiving a penalty charge if they claim they have a valid PPC when they do not. No communication is sent to the PPC holder when the PPC has already expired.

Air Pollution: Health Hazards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of particulate matter emissions on (a) health and (b) life expectancy.

Maria Caulfield: Short-term variation in exposure to particulate matter can cause respiratory and cardiovascular effects and cause mortality. Long-term exposure to particulate matter can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer, leading to reduced life expectancy. Effects also include adverse birth outcomes, cognitive decline and dementia.It is predicted that between 2017 and 2035 in England, 1,327,424 new cases of disease will be attributable to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), equivalent to 2,248 new cases of disease per 100,000 people over the same time period.It is estimated that long-term exposure to air pollution from PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide in the United Kingdom results in an annual effect equivalent to 29,000 to 43,000 deaths for adults aged 30 and over.

Travel: Vaccination

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what travel vaccinations GP surgeries are normally required to provide for free; and whether there are circumstances under which a surgery could charge for them.

Maria Caulfield: The following travel vaccines are available free on the National Health Service from general practice surgeries: polio (given as a combined diphtheria/tetanus/polio jab); typhoid; hepatitis A; and cholera.These vaccines are free because they protect against diseases thought to represent the greatest risk to public health if they were brought into the country.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Vaccination

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has a timescale for approval and rollout of vaccines protecting against respiratory syncytial virus.

Maria Caulfield: Policy options based on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice on a potentially expanded respiratory syncytial virus vaccination programme are being developed. This includes the Department working with the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England on implementation, with NHS England leading on delivery.

Non-surgical Cosmetic Procedures: Licensing

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish a consultation on a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with relevant stakeholders in the beauty and aesthetics sector on developing a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of developing an aesthetics licensing scheme to provide (a) education, (b) training and (c) progression routes into the sector for (i) medical and (ii) non-medical practitioners.

Maria Caulfield: The Government intends to publish a public consultation on proposals for the scope of the treatments to be included within the licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures later this summer. The Department continues to meet regularly with stakeholders to discuss the scope and development of the licensing scheme. As part of this work, I held a roundtable discussion with a broad range of stakeholders on 14 June. The Department will also work with stakeholders to determine the education and training requirements that practitioners will have to meet, alongside hygiene, cleanliness and indemnity requirements, to demonstrate that they can practise safely.

Abortion: Drugs

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of provision of abortion pills to a woman beyond the legal limit for abortion by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing Section 3(D) of the Abortion Act 1967 in the context of potential risks presented to the health and safety of women.

Maria Caulfield: No assessment has been made of the implications for policies on the provision of abortion pills to a woman beyond the legal time limit for abortion.The law on abortion and required standards of medical care are clear. The Department continues to work closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and abortion providers to ensure that abortions in England are performed in accordance with the Abortion Act 1967.There are no plans to review Section 3(D) of the Abortion Act 1967. Parliament decided the circumstances under which abortion can legally be undertaken. It would be for Parliament to decide whether to make any changes to the law on abortion. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance and allows hon. Members to vote according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.

Mental Health Services: LGBT+ People

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated for LGBTQ+ appropriate mental health treatment for financial years (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26.

Maria Caulfield: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision of mental health services and thus for allocating funding for services tailored to their local populations. This means that the provision of LGBTQ+ appropriate mental health treatment should be commissioned at ICB level.At a national level, we are expanding and transforming National Health Service mental health services in England, backed by additional funding of £2.3 billion a year by March 2024. This will allow an extra 2 million people, including LGBTQ+ individuals, to get the mental health support that they need.Through its mental health equalities strategy, NHS England is working closely with patients, carers, health system leaders and other key stakeholders to bridge the gaps for groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, faring worse than others in mental health services.

Health Services and Social Services: Inspections

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many inspections of (a) adult social care providers, (b) primary medical services, (c) hospitals and (d) mental health services were carried out by the Care Quality Commission in the (i) London and (ii) East of England network in each of the last 24 months.

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many inspections of (a) adult social care providers, (b) primary medical services, (c) hospitals and (d) mental health services were carried out by the Care Quality Commission in the (i) south east and (ii) south west in each of the last 24 months.

Maria Caulfield: A table showing how many inspections of (a) adult social care providers, (b) primary medical services, (c) hospitals and (d) mental health services were carried out by the Care Quality Commission in (i) London (ii) East of England network (iii) the South East and (iv) the South West, in each of the last 24 months, is attached.Inspection numbers table (xlsx, 72.5KB)

Health Services: Women

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish an implementation framework for the Women's Health Strategy 2022.

Maria Caulfield: We do not plan to publish an implementation framework for the Women’s Health Strategy. We wrote to MPs in January 2023 setting out our priorities for the first year of implementing the Women’s Health Strategy. In this, we committed to update Parliament annually on progress, with the first update due in September 2023. In addition, the strategy committed to publishing a report on progress in delivering our commitments in three years (2025).

Antidepressants: Greater London

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of people in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London who have been prescribed antidepressants for a continuous period of more than 12 months as of 10 July 2023.

Maria Caulfield: The data requested is not held centrally.

Vaccination: Enfield North

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of NHS travel vaccinations in Enfield North constituency.

Maria Caulfield: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central on 26 June 2023 to Question 190623.

Autism and Learning Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on delivering the Building the Right Support Action Plan.

Maria Caulfield: Significant progress has been made in implementing the Building the Right Support Action Plan, which contains a mix of short-term and long-term commitments.Since publication of the Plan in July 2022, the majority of the shorter-term commitments due to complete to date, 19 of 27, have now been delivered, and there are mitigations in place for those that have not.For the longer-term commitments, some of which have completion dates of 2025 and beyond, the majority are on track to be delivered as expected. Mitigations are in place for the small number of commitments that are currently off track to be delivered by their expected completion date.

Autism and Learning Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has provided to integrated care systems on delivering his Department's Building the Right Support Action Plan; and what assessment he has made of the progress made by integrated care systems on delivering that Plan.

Maria Caulfield: The Building the Right Support Action Plan brings together commitments from across Government and public services, and all of these commitments have clear owners and dates for delivery. It is the responsibility of commitment owners to ensure that their commitments are delivered as set out in the Plan. While the majority of the commitments in the Plan are on a national level, commitment owners will involve local systems where relevant.In May 2023, NHS England published statutory guidance on Executive Lead roles including the requirement to have a lead for learning disability and autism and a lead for Down syndrome and for special educational needs and disability.The integrated care board (ICB) executive lead for learning disability and autism will support the chief executive and the board to ensure that the ICB performs its functions effectively in the interests of people with a learning disability and autistic people.The NHS Long Term Plan 2019 sets out our commitments to reduce reliance on mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. This commitment was re-confirmed in planning guidance for local systems for 2023/24, which is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2023-24-priorities-and-operational-planning-guidance/

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Data Protection

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that the special category level of personal data held by his Department is protected.

Mike Freer: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) takes its data protection responsibilities very seriously. The Department has a well-resourced and knowledgeable Data Protection Team led by an experienced and certified Data Protection Officer (DPO). We have a departmental data protection strategy providing a framework which enables the lawful use of personal data. The Department delivers regular training which is bespoke to roles which involve the processing of personal information, including special category data. All staff are required to undertake information handling training. The Department has a policy governance framework in place and conducts regular audits to check that our policies and procedures are effective. The Department continues to foster a culture which promotes good data protection and security principles. The Data Protection Team also works with the Cross Government Data Protection Committee to share learning, best practice and recommendations. This approach has been endorsed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The department has a range of security policies, standards, and guidance material which staff, contractors and suppliers are obliged to follow. These define the security requirements that systems which process MoJ information, including special category information, must include to ensure it is properly protected at all times.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Disability

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to simplify the process for people seeking reasonable adjustments in His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service settings.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department takes steps to record requests for reasonable adjustments.

Mike Freer: HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) provides reasonable adjustments for court and tribunal users with disabilities, in accordance with its legal duty under the Equality Act 2010, to help them access information and services. HMCTS also has a wider duty to avoid treating people less favourably because of a disability to meet its wider Public Sector Equality Duty. HMCTS encourages court and tribunal users to get in touch before a hearing to discuss any particular adjustments they may need. Information about HMCTS providing reasonable adjustments is available on GOV.UK at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service/about/equality-and-diversity.HMCTS has mandatory Reasonable Adjustment learning for staff to help them understand what reasonable adjustments are and how the agency should put them in place to support court and tribunal users with disabilities.As part of the HMCTS Reform Programme, HMCTS is improving how reasonable adjustments are requested and managed within Civil, Family and Tribunals jurisdictions. This will include proactively asking service users for their support needs within their journey, and improvements to case management systems to make it easier for its staff to manage and deliver the adjustments.HMCTS does record requests for reasonable adjustments. Requests from court and tribunal users across all jurisdictions are manually logged and recorded on OPTIC which is the HMCTS incident and feedback recording system.

Family Proceedings: Legal Representation

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many open family cases there are in each Designated Family Judge area for public and private family law; and what proportion of those cases in each area involve litigants in person.

Mike Freer: Count of the Private and Public Law Open Caseload as at the 31st March 2023 broken down to include cases without a representativeDESIGNATED FAMILY JUDGE AREAPublic  Law Open CaseloadPrivate Law Open CaseloadUnrepresented1Total CasesUnrepresented1Total CasesBirmingham5728012111696Blackburn/Lancaster803737511063Bournemouth and Dorset1791202335Brighton362709461353Bristol (A, NS and G)553308221190Business Centres0423Carlisle14114131220Central London18766626913485Cleveland and South Durham82371289461Coventry27131513778Derby36223461711Devon92347615994East London18967623133412Essex and Suffolk6837420512939Guildford31149559854Humberside74297372570Leicester23186451679Lincoln18127292474Liverpool2007999591532Luton28172520704Manchester23488216582483Medway and Canterbury12742112911759Milton Keynes53272604923North Wales39144183310North Yorkshire1483201356Northampton24152410558Northumbria and North Durham95503551934Norwich26187527793Nottingham472467051039Peterborough and Cambridge26145423650Portsmouth (Hampshire and IOW)822919741362Reading37212566921South East Wales732846451084South Yorkshire70391418705Stoke on Trent68320653965Swansea39155351713Swindon1593291435Taunton21113251412Truro1297191326Watford1390566847West London9652418132556West Yorkshire16470610791639Wolverhampton994719471417Worcester17111318525Grand Total2805128733176747165Unrepresented1 data is a subset of Publish Management Information. This is Management Information; the data is taken from a live management information system and can change over time and may differ from previously published data.1. Unrepresented' refers to parties where no representative is recorded. Therefore, they should be considered as parties without a recorded representative, rather than 'litigants in person'.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system.

Civil Proceedings: Legal Aid Scheme

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the Legal Aid Agency’s methodologies are for assessing demand and capacity for civil legal aid for all categories of law.

Mike Freer: The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. The LAA manages capacity in a number of ways. The LAA’s network of regional contract managers located throughout England and Wales provide intelligence-led information based on contact with legal aid service providers. In addition, the LAA frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision for legal aid, in all categories of law, and moves quickly where issues arise to secure provision. The commissioning and monitoring of legal aid services are done by Procurement Area or Access Point, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one provider in each civil category per Procurement Area, outside Family Law where the minimum is five. Information about the number of legal aid providers contracted to provide services are published as part of the LAA’s statistics. These statistics are used by the LAA as management information to monitor the capacity of legal aid services over time, in different areas of law and different regions of England Wales.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Heysham Power Stations: Power Failures

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Heysham power station in each year since 2010.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Dungeness B power station in each year since 2010.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Hartlepool power station in each year since 2010.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Heysham 2 power station in each year since 2010.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Hinkley Point B power station in each year since 2010.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Hunterston B power station in each year since 2010.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Torness power station in each year since 2010.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) outages and (b) other periods of unavailability of electricity generation there have been per reactor, in days, at Sizewell B power station in each year since 2010.

Andrew Bowie: .Nuclear power continues to be an important and proven source of reliable, clean energy, and as a result of this strong baseload provision, we have been able to move faster on a number of our key net zero objectives. A proportion of the nuclear generating capacity is likely to be unavailable at any given point due to routine inspections, maintenance, energy systems management and technical issues. A certain level of outage is to be expected and demonstrative of a very well regulated and safe technology. In 2021, nuclear power stations generated 46 TWh of electricity which was 15% of the electricity generated in the UK. The UK’s Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor Fleet is ageing and has performed beyond original expectations providing extra years of generation. In addition to the AGR fleet, Sizewell B will continue operating until at least 2035 and we have set out our ambition for a new generation of nuclear power stations, providing up to 24GW of electricity by 2050. The new reactor designs are very efficient. This includes new large-scale nuclear power stations like Hinkley Point C which alone will provide 3.2GW for around 60 years, and the next generation of small and advanced reactors are expected to be more efficient.   2010 – 2023 (June): Annual number of outages and non-operational days at UK nuclear power stations   Dungeness B R21Dungeness B R22Hartlepool R1Hartlepool R2Heysham 1 R1Heysham 1 R2Heysham 2 R7Heysham 2 R8 OutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operational20100230410134938621523119151251201142603249612925022242428233220125172218134723747151334630020135102818244841332141750128274201491796106312241443246313800112015444312927947937721362700020164417575132379246347001652017615359222642929837539002018412731402109329331171389142019036503656413117239586002520200366036622936231303711928220210365036521143135412969531935652022N/AN/AN/AN/A282253257212251093632023N/AN/AN/AN/A220220114124222296  Hinkley Point B R3Hinkley Point B R4Hunterston B R3Hunterston B R4Torness R1Torness R2Sizewell B R1 OutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operationalOutagesDays non operational2010254444214215136514311962011236390342419264413253201248632016028800004832013191230041714811214720141330032531831093791462015161853692861400002016477163271111614162201732835122712165163158201821816433015861902403020192961303650012570016520202248131402431602710012202121471130264472271414211272022319111N/AN/A004813115142023N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A240332191   Notes on TableDays non-operational represents days where a reactor did not generate at all during a day.If output in a day is greater than 0, then the day is counted as an operational day.Outages represent the number of occurrences where a reactor was non-operational.2023 is until June 2023 only.Dungeness moved into its defueling phase in June 2021, having been in an extended outage since September 2018N/A means not available due to no longer generating and transitioning to defueling as planned.

Energy: Meters

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July to Question 192438 on Energy: Meters, what tariffs will be available to people without smart meters after 31 March 2024.

Amanda Solloway: I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 193247. The Government expects energy suppliers to upgrade households with Radio Teleswitching Services to smart meters by 31 March 2024, so they can continue to benefit from multi rate tariffs. Households with Radio Teleswitching Systems should engage their energy suppliers to arrange their smart metering installations as soon as possible to help facilitate this. Households will need to liaise with their energy supplier to understand the default tariff arrangements for those without smart meters after 31 March 2024, as this will vary according to individual circumstances.

UK Emissions Trading Scheme: Staff

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many installation operators were required to return free carbon allowances in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023; and if he will publish the names of those operators.

Graham Stuart: Operators may make multiple returns a year for free allowances issued in more than one scheme year. The number of operators making returns was: 4 in 2021 for 2021; 159 in 2022 (19 for 2022, 140 for 2021); 79 as at end April 2023 (62 for 2022, 17 for 2021). The UK ETS Authority publishes a table showing free allocations by year for individual operators. If there are changes in activity requiring returns, this table will be updated.

Carbon Emissions: Costs

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the median cost of carbon in the (a) UK and (b) EU.

Graham Stuart: The UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the EU Emissions Trading System are the main carbon pricing initiatives in the UK and EU respectively. Their traded units are UK Allowances and EU Allowances – both equate to 1 tCO2e. Benchmark prices for each scheme are the front December Futures contracts (currently December 2023) traded on the Intercontinental Exchange. The median End-of-Day settlement price of UK Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £68.18. The median End-of-Day settlement price of EU Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £77.92/€89.32.

Department for Business and Trade

Trade: Bolton North East

Mark Logan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the impact of international trade on Bolton North East constituency.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for Business and Trade doesn’t assess the impact international trade on individual member constituencies. Nationwide export support services are in place which can be adapted to meet local needs. Across all constituencies, we support businesses to gain the confidence and expertise to export. The Export Support Service helps businesses to navigate all export services offered by the Department to open opportunities to succeed through global trade. The Export Academy is a major initiative to build market knowledge and export capability to boost businesses’ global trading capability, supporting the millions of jobs that rely on exporting. In addition, the International Trade Advisory service gives businesses one to one support to take advantage of new global opportunities.

Cabinet Office

Covid-19 Inquiry

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps the Government has taken to engage with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

Alex Burghart: The Government is fully committed to constructive engagement with the Covid-19 Inquiry and has been since its establishment. Government officials and lawyers meet with the Inquiry on a regular basis, both as part of a regular series of meetings and on an ad hoc basis to discuss specific issues. We have disclosed over 55,000 documents to the Inquiry to date.

Committee on Standards in Public Life and  Development and Use of Supply Chain Finance (and associated schemes) in Government Review

John Penrose: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates his Department plans to publish a response to (a) Sir Nigel Boardman's Review into the Development and Use of Supply Chain Finance in Government, published in August 2021 and (b) the Committee on Standards in Public Life's report entitled Upholding Standards in Public Life, published in November 2021.

Alex Burghart: The Government's response to Sir Nigel Boardman's Review into the Development and Use of Supply Chain Finance in Government; the Committee on Standards in Public Life's report 'Upholding Standards in Public Life', and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee's report 'Propriety of Governance in Light of Greensill' will be published before the summer recess.

Blood: Contamination

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2023 to Question 190802 on Blood: Contamination, when he plans to make a decision on whether to accept the recommendations of the inquiry’s second interim report; and if he will make a statement before the summer recess.

Jeremy Quin: As set out in the debate held on Thursday 22nd June, the Government is considering the recommendations set out in the Inquiry’s Second Interim Report and intends to respond to Sir Brian’s recommendations following the publication of the Inquiry’s final report in the autumn. This does not preclude the possibility of making earlier announcements on progress, and I am committed to updating the House as appropriate as the Government progresses this work.

Blood: Contamination

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy for interim payments to be made to people affected by deaths that have not been formally recognised as arising from infected blood products; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Quin: Work is underway to consider the recommendations in Sir Brian Langstaff's second interim report, including those relating to compensation to those affected by this tragedy. It is important that we give consideration to the recommendations ahead of making any announcements. I am committed to updating the House on these matters as soon as is appropriate.

Department for Education

Care Proceedings

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the time limit on determining care proceedings as set out by the Children and Families Act 2014.

Claire Coutinho: The government remains committed to meeting the 26-week timeframe for public law cases and has no plans to review this. Although there is a considerable amount of work taking place across the family justice system to improve timeliness, the government acknowledges there is more to be done. The Public Law Outline (PLO) introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014, of which the 26-week timeline is one aspect, brought about a renewed focused and statutory responsibility. In January 2023, the President of the Family Division reiterated his clear desire for the current time limits to be met by family courts in England and Wales through his re-launch of the PLO.To measure the system’s progress in reducing delays and backlogs in the system, the national Family Justice Board, co-chaired by ministers from the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice, have agreed a set of key performance indicators which are reviewed at every Board. The department is working closely with partners across the system to deliver several initiatives to ensure public family law timeliness returns to the 26-week statutory timeframe as quickly as possible. For example, we have launched a pilot to bring the child’s guardian and social worker together earlier than the case management hearing (first hearing), which should decrease delays caused at the earliest stage of proceedings. With HM Courts and Tribunals Service, we are piloting the use of two checklists to support engagement with the PLO principles and reduce last minute adjournments. We have also invested approximately £2.2 million to improve family justice pre-proceedings practice and data collection as a means of reducing court backlogs.

Supply Teachers: Pay

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of pay for supply teachers employed through education recruitment agencies.

Nick Gibb: The Government’s education policy reforms in England have given schools the freedom to make staffing decisions that meet their circumstances. This means schools, academies and Local Authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their workforces, including supply teachers, including whether to use supply agencies.In August 2018, in conjunction with the Crown Commercial Service, the Department launched the agency supply deal. The deal supports schools with getting value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary staff.The deal has established a list of preferred suppliers that schools can access, all of which:Will be transparent with schools about the rates they charge.Will agree to not charge finder’s fees for workers who have been in post for 12 weeks, when four weeks’ notice is given.Will conduct consistent, rigorous background screening checks in line with our statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education.Will be accredited by an approved accreditation body, that will audit suppliers for compliance with robust recruitment principles and the terms of the framework.Details of the deal can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deal-for-schools-hiring-supply-teachers-and-agency-workers.Education is a devolved matter, meaning the devolved administrations set their own policy on supply teacher pay and conditions.

Teachers: Misconduct

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of complaints received on the online Teacher Regulation Agency system for reporting teacher misconduct.

Nick Gibb: The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) plays an important role in regulating the teaching profession in England, and considering cases of serious teacher misconduct. Teachers are the most important factor in a child’s education and the overwhelming majority are highly competent and effective, and never engage in any form of misconduct.The TRA will only consider allegations of the most serious cases of misconduct. A referral may be made to the TRA by employers, the public, the police, the Disclosure and Barring Service and other regulators and interested organisations. The TRA considers all referrals it receives and where the allegations could amount to serious misconduct by a teacher, the TRA will impartially investigate the matter and, if necessary, take appropriate action.The TRA reviews all feedback on its processes. It does not sub-categorise complaints specifically in relation to the online referral service.It is important that processes relating to teacher misconduct are progressed without any political involvement and Ministers in this Department cannot have any involvement in these independent investigations, related processes, and decisions.

Physics: Teachers

Alberto Costa: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of physics teachers in (a) South Leicestershire constituency and (b) Leicestershire.

Nick Gibb: As at the last school workforce census (November 2022, published on 8 June 2023), the number of teachers remains high, with 468,400 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers working in state funded schools across the country. This is over 27,000 (6%) more than in 2010. The last school workforce census is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.In November 2022 (latest available data), there were 5,331 FTE teachers in state funded schools in Leicestershire. This is an increase of 1.3% from last year (5,263) and an increase of 0.6% since 2010, when the school workforce census began (5,298).In November 2022 (latest available data), there were 845 FTE teachers in state funded schools in South Leicestershire constituency. This is an increase of 0.8% from last year (838) and an increase of 12.2% since 2010 (753).The Department’s reforms are aimed at increasing teacher recruitment and at ensuring teachers across England stay and thrive in the profession.The Department announced a financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2023/24 academic year. The Department is providing bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing. The Department has extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in languages and physics.The Department provides a Levelling Up Premium for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools nationally, including within Education Investment Areas. There are 18 schools in the Leicester Local Authority area and 12 schools in the Leicestershire Local Authority eligible for Levelling Up Premium payments worth up to £2,000. The eligibility criteria and list of eligible schools is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.The Department launched a pilot initial teacher training course in spring 2022 called ‘Engineers teach physics’. It was designed to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher.The Department has increased the number of providers offering ‘Engineers teach physics’ in the second year to 18. This expansion of providers will ensure that this programme will be available to more trainees across the country.

Further Education

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to section 2.6 of Reforms to subcontracting education for learners over 16, what steps she has taken to ensure that lead 16-19 education providers have direct contractual relationships with third parties providing specialist input.

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to section 2.6 of Reforms to subcontracting education for learners over 16, what steps she has taken to develop a good practice guide for sports provision with the Football Association and the Association of Colleges.

Robert Halfon: The department has updated the subcontracting rules to stipulate that when a subcontractor wants to appoint and work with a third party, which could include a sports club, it is the provider who must have a direct contractual relationship with the third party and not the subcontractor (point 86). This rule is monitored through the standard subcontracting reporting and audit requirements, including the individualised learner record and subcontracting declaration, which from 2022 must also include the declaration of subcontracting of any employability, enrichment and pastoral activity. The department has also introduced the subcontracting standard which Education Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA) providers must meet if the aggregate total of all subcontractors delivering ESFA funded provision exceeds or is anticipated to exceed £100,000 in any single funding year.The department is reviewing sports provision with the Football Association and the Association of Colleges. All subcontracted sports provision must adhere to the relevant subcontracting rules.

Teachers: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has conducted a review of the impact of the pandemic on teacher recruitment and retention strategies.

Nick Gibb: Recent data shows that there are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest number of FTE teachers on record since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.The Department has continued to implement the significant reforms that were set out in the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in 2019, despite the pandemic.The Department has transformed training, support and professional development for all new teachers, creating an entitlement to at least three years of evidence based training, across initial training and into their induction. This includes the biggest teaching reform in a generation, the Early Career Framework, which provides the solid foundations for a successful career in teaching, backed by over £130 million a year in funding.The Department has launched a new and updated suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts. Since autumn 2021, eligible teachers and leaders have been able to access scholarships to undertake fully funded NPQs.The Department has published a range of resources to help schools address teacher workload, prioritise staff wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The Department has worked in partnership with the education sector and mental health experts to create the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter which schools are encouraged to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. More than 2,700 schools and colleges have signed up to the Charter, which has been downloaded over 30,000 times.Building on a successful pilot, the Department is investing over £1.1 million to provide professional supervision and counselling to school and college leaders. Over 1,000 headteachers have benefitted from the support so far. On 12 June 2023, the Department announced the expansion of the programme, doubling places this year, so that more school leaders can have access to this valuable support.

Schools: Discipline

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve school behaviour.

Nick Gibb: Behaviour is a priority for the Government. All schools should be calm, safe and supportive environments where all pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.The Department has an ambitious programme of work on improving behaviour in schools which aims to provide clarity and support for headteachers and staff. This includes the recently updated suite of guidance: ‘Behaviour in Schools’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools--2, the ‘Suspension and Permanent Exclusion’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-exclusion, and the ‘Searching, Screening and Confiscation’ guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation. These are practical tools to help schools create environments which young people want to attend.The Department is investing £10 million through the Behaviour Hubs programme to enable schools with exemplary behaviour cultures to support schools that want and need to turn around their behaviour, alongside a central offer of support and taskforce of advisers. The programme will support up to 700 partner schools during the three years it is scheduled to run.

Children: Health

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the wellbeing of children in school.

Claire Coutinho: The department is committed to ensuring all schools are calm, safe and supportive learning environments that promote and support wellbeing.To support this, the department is offering all schools and colleges funding to train a senior mental health lead who can put in place an effective whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. Over 13,800 schools and colleges have now received a training grant, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools.To help children understand and look after their own wellbeing, as at September 2020, the department’s Health Education curriculum has a strong focus on mental wellbeing. Pupils are taught about the link between physical and mental health, how to recognise and talk about their emotions, and how and where to seek support if they are concerned about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing.When a child or young person is struggling with their mental health, it is vital to intervene early. That is why the department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to continue the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams across schools and colleges. These teams currently cover 35% of pupils in schools and learners in further education and we estimate this will increase to around 44% by April 2024.The Department publishes annual State of the Nation reports on children and young people’s wellbeing. These reports draw together the best available evidence and inform work across government to support young people's wellbeing. The latest report, published February 2023, can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1134596/State_of_the_nation_2022_-_children_and_young_people_s_wellbeing.pdf.

National Tutoring Programme

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the National Tutoring Programme.

Nick Gibb: Since 2020, the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) has delivered over 3 million courses of tutoring to pupils most in need of catch up following the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is extensive evidence that tutoring is one of the most effective ways to accelerate academic progress. This is why the Department is providing more than £1 billion for tutoring, so that pupils can catch up through accessing high quality tuition.The Year 2 Implementation and Process Evaluation report explored the implementation of the NTP, particularly the School Led Tutoring (SLT) route, which was new in the 2021/22 academic year. It also explored teacher and leader perceptions of whether the NTP has affected workloads, the effect of the NTP on pupil premium spend on tutoring, reasons for non engagement in the NTP overall or its individual routes, and perceptions of impact on pupils, staff and schools.The Year 2 Implementation and Process evaluation report was published in October 2022 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-tutoring-programme-year-2-implementation-and-process-evaluation.The Year 2 Implementation and Process Evaluation report found most school leaders were satisfied with the NTP programme overall, and with the individual routes they were participating in. It found that all three routes of the NTP were perceived by head teachers to be having a positive effect on pupils’ attainment, self-confidence, and helping them catch up with their peers. It also found that most schools were prioritising pupil premium eligible pupils for tutoring across all routes.The Year 2 Implementation and Process Evaluation compliments a quantitative impact evaluation, which explores the impact of NTP in its second year on educational attainment outcomes for pupils. This is due to be published in the autumn, alongside the Year 3 Implementation and Process Evaluation.

Schools: Islamophobia

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to tackle islamophobia in schools.

Nick Gibb: The Government condemns and strives to tackle all forms of discrimination, prejudice, and harassment.Under the Equality Act 2010, schools have a duty to take steps to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations across all protected characteristics, including between people of different religions or beliefs. The Department has published advice to support schools to fulfil their duties under the Equality Act 2010, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-advice-for-schools?msclkid=9ce22dddcc5d11ec9a0a2d6e2fd0a666.As part of a broad and balanced curriculum, pupils should be introduced to different societies, and how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain. This can include experiences and voices of people from all backgrounds. The relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum has a focus on equality, respect, the harmful impact of stereotyping, as well as the importance of valuing difference. RSHE guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.Schools are also required to actively promote fundamental British values, including mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Actively promoting these values means that any opinions or behaviours that contradict them need to be challenged. The Department publishes information, guidance and support for teachers and head teachers on how to challenge discriminatory beliefs on the Educate Against Hate website, accessible at: https://www.educateagainsthate.com. This includes the ‘Respectful School Communities’ toolkit, a self review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline.All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. To support schools tackle bullying, the Department is providing over £3 million of funding between August 2021 and March 2024 to five anti bullying organisations. The Department has deliberately focused this grant programme on preventing and tackling bullying of pupils with protected characteristics. This includes projects targeting the bullying of particular vulnerable groups, such as those who are victims of hate related bullying.

Teachers: Training

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage more (a) women, (b) men, (c) people from ethnic minority backgrounds and (d) people from lower socio-economic backgrounds to become teachers.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage more (a) women, (b) men, (c) people from ethnic minority backgrounds and (d) people from lower social-economic backgrounds to become school leaders.

Nick Gibb: The Department wants teaching to be an inclusive profession where teachers from all backgrounds are supported throughout their career, from the moment they enter the profession, through their continued development as teachers and as they progress into leadership.Recruitment campaigns for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) are targeted at students, recent graduates and potential career changers regardless of their identity or background.Apply for Teacher Training, the new application service for ITT in England, was rolled out nationally in 2021. It has been designed to be user friendly and has been extensively tested with a diverse range of potential applicants to ensure it helps remove barriers to great teachers applying for ITT courses.The Department’s world class teacher development programmes, such as National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), are designed to support all teachers through to executive headship, and are designed to reach as many people as possible, regardless of their background. Since autumn 2021, eligible teachers and headteachers have been able to access scholarships to undertake fully funded NPQs and 51,518 qualifications have been started so far.Flexible working supports equality of opportunity in the workforce and can help women to stay in the workforce and progress. The Department is taking action to promote flexible working in schools. This includes publishing resources and guidance on GOV.UK and funding a programme of support, including webinars with a focus on how flexible working can support diversity and inclusion.Governors have an important role to play in promoting diversity, equality and inclusion when appointing headteachers. Guidance states that school governance boards are expected to have an understanding of, and an adherence to, the Equality Act 2010, promoting equality and diversity throughout the organisation including in relation to its own operation. They should understand the full diversity of the cultural context of the school and community they serve and are reminded of this in the department’s Governance Handbook: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook, and in the current guidance on recruiting a headteacher: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruiting-a-headteacher.

Carers: Childcare

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate with Cabinet colleagues of the number of unpaid carers who have children under the age of five that will not be eligible to access the expansion of the 30 hours free childcare offer in 2024-2025.

Claire Coutinho: The department does not hold data on the number of unpaid carers with children under the age of five.Unpaid carers would not be eligible for the 30 hours offer unless they meet the minimum income criteria. A two-parent household may still be able to meet the criteria for 30 hours free childcare where one parent is working, and meeting the above income criteria, and the other is receiving one of certain benefits. The eligibility criteria is available at: https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare?step-by-step-nav=f517cd57-3c18-4bb9-aa8b-1b907e279bf9. Those receiving Carer’s Allowance are included.All three and four year-olds are eligible for the 15-hour free entitlement regardless of their parents’ circumstances. This is available the term after a child turns three and is available for 38 weeks a year during term time, or across more weeks of the year if they use fewer hours per week.

Free School Meals: Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school students receive free school meals in Romford constituency.

Nick Gibb: The Department publishes figures on the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals. The most recently published figures can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. In the 2022/23 academic year, 1,899 primary and 1,419 secondary pupils were eligible for free school meals in the Romford constituency.

Teachers: Coastal Areas and Rural Areas

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is talking to increase the recruitment of teachers in (a) rural and (b) coastal communities.

Nick Gibb: As at the last school workforce census (November 2022, published on 8 June 2023), the number of teachers remains high, with 468,400 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers working in state funded schools across the country. This is over 27,000 (6%) more than in 2010. The last school workforce census is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.The Department’s reforms are aimed at increasing teacher recruitment and at ensuring teachers across England stay and succeed in the profession.The Department announced a financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2023/24 academic year. The Department is providing bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing. The Department has extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in languages and physics.The Department provides a Levelling Up Premium (LUP) worth up to £3,000 for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools. Teachers in Education Investment Areas (EIAs) receive the highest LUP payments and many EIAs are predominantly rural. 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns (as defined by the ONS’ Coastal Towns 2020 analysis, which is available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/tourismindustry/articles/coastaltownsinenglandandwales/2020-10-06) are eligible for the LUP, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. The eligibility criteria and list of eligible schools is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.The Department has also raised starting salaries outside London by 8.9% to £28,000 and remains committed to the Government’s ambition of delivering £30,000 starting salaries to attract talented people to teaching.To support retention across all areas, the Department has worked with the education sector and published a range of resources to help address staff workload and wellbeing. These include the school workload reduction toolkit and the education staff wellbeing charter. The toolkit is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit, and the wellbeing charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter. More than 2,700 schools have signed up to the Charter so far.

Further Education: Greater London

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the (a) quality and (b) accessibility of courses requiring specialist instruction at further education colleges in London on (i) economic growth and (ii) public services.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) vacancy levels and (b) workforce turnover rates for (i) digital lecturers and (ii) other specialist teachers at further education colleges in London on the (A) quality and (B) accessibility of courses requiring specialist instruction.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of resource levels for further education colleges in London on the (i) recruitment and (ii) retention of (A) digital lecturers and (B) other specialist teachers.

Robert Halfon: Further education (FE) teachers are pivotal to the delivery of great student outcomes and to training the next generation of skilled workers to help boost productivity and drive national economic growth.The department works closely with the sector to continually review the evidence around the impact of workforce supply and demand. The department knows the FE sector will need to grow the overall size of its teaching workforce due to the roll-out of T Levels which require more teaching hours, delivery of maths to 18, demographic pressures and the delivery of other important skills reforms.We are making significant investments to support the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, including specialist teachers. The Spending Review 2021 made an extra £1.6 billion available for 16-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year compared with 2021/22. We are investing £125 million of available funds in the2023/24 financial year for 16-19 education to increase the national funding rate by 2.2% from £4,542 to £4,642, and boost specific programme cost weightings by 10%, to support the additional costs of recruiting and retaining specialist teachers in construction, manufacturing, engineering, and digital subject areas.In addition, Institutions in London and the South East get additional funding through an area cost uplift to address the higher costs of delivering education in this part of England. For example, FE colleges in London attract a 20% uplift (inner London) and a 12% uplift (outer London), to their 16-19 funding allocations.The adult education budget (AEB) is devolved to the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority. The Mayor is now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for London residents and allocation of the AEB to providers.The department is supporting teacher recruitment in the sector through a national campaign to encourage industry professionals to become FE teachers.We have supported the creation of new, high-quality routes into FE teaching, including a revised Level 5 Learning and Skills Teacher apprenticeship for those planning to work in the FE sector. The department is also providing bursaries worth up to £29,000 each tax-free to support FE teacher training in priority subject areas for the academic year 2023/24. The Taking Teaching Further (TTF) programme has supported around 1,000 industry professionals to train as FE teachers since 2018. In addition, the department is piloting a new £6,000 financial incentive for TTF recruits teaching in some of the most hard-to-fill subject areas, such as digital, construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing and maths. Finally, early career support is being offered for teachers in the form of access to a trained mentor through the Teacher Mentoring Programme which was announced in March 2023.The department will continue to work with the sector to consider options for providing further support so that all learners are able to benefit from high-quality teaching.

Construction: Vocational Education

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on developing skills academies for the construction industry.

Robert Halfon: No discussions on plans for skills academies for the construction sector have taken place.We are working across government and in partnership with industry through the Construction Skills Delivery Group, to ensure that our skills offer meets the needs of employers in the sector, including small and medium sized enterprises.The department’s skills reforms in England provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to get good jobs and progress in their careers. We are building a skills system that is employer focused, high-quality, fit for the future, and is flexible enough to lead to more people completing high quality courses that meet employers’ needs. This ambitious skills agenda is backed by £3.8 billion of investment over this Parliament. The department is using this to expand and strengthen higher and further education, ensuring skills training is aligned to the needs of employers to enable communities to thrive.With this investment, we are putting employers at the heart of our skills system, which is why we are working with industry to shape our training offers, creating more routes into skilled employment in key economic sectors including construction.From August 2023 there will be a number of qualifications approved for funding in the building and construction sector including 59 at level 3 in the Free Courses for Job offer, 99 at levels 3 to 6 through Advanced Learner Loans, and 393 at entry level and level 2 through the Adult Education Budget.Our high-quality apprenticeships are supporting people of all ages with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start, or progress in, an exciting career in the construction sector. Employers in the construction sector have developed 99 high quality apprenticeship standards to meet their skills needs, including in occupations like level 2 scaffolder, level 3 bricklayer, and degree level 6 construction site manager.The department has introduced innovations to support growth of training programmes in the sector. We are making apprenticeships more flexible, for example through flexi job apprenticeships. Flexi job Apprenticeships are available to employers and apprentices in two ways, one type operates with an agency and the other is apprentice-led and operates without an agency.T Levels are strengthening vocational options for young people finishing their GCSEs. These two-year, technical qualifications are designed with relevant employers, and are equivalent in size to three A levels. T Levels in construction can lead to a range of careers in the construction sector.The Free Courses for Jobs offer, which was launched in April 2021, allows eligible adults to access over 400 level 3 qualifications, A level equivalent, for free. There are many qualifications are available on the offer in all areas of the construction sector including engineering, skilled trades and site management.Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Skills Bootcamps are available in a variety of skill areas including construction offering a range of courses such as construction trades and heat pump installation.We have also introduced Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). These are current, new level 4 to 5 qualifications, approved and quality marked by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education as providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers. From September 2023, there will be 18 HTQs available in Construction and the Built Environment.

Ambulance Services: Apprentices

Mark Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide funding to the West Midlands Ambulance Service Student's Paramedic Apprenticeship Programme.

Robert Halfon: Employers of all sizes can access funding for apprenticeships training and assessment when they need it. The department does not allocate funding to particular employers, apprenticeship standards or sectors.As a levy paying employer, West Midlands Ambulance Service can utilise their levy funds to invest in the high-quality apprenticeships training they choose. The West Midlands Ambulance Service is also registered and approved to deliver apprenticeships training for other employers.To support more employers across the country, including the National Health Service (NHS), to recruit new apprentices, the department is increasing funding for apprenticeships in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year.The NHS have recently published their long-term workforce plan which puts apprenticeships and skills at the heart of the NHS workforce strategy. The proportion of paramedics who will be trained through apprenticeships will be between 25 – 50% by 2031/32.These apprenticeships will make medical professions more accessible and help to build a highly skilled and diverse NHS workforce that is more representative of local communities.

Pupils: Attendance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve school attendance rates.

Nick Gibb: The Department has a comprehensive attendance strategy to improve school attendance.  Recent guidance has been published setting out how schools, trusts and Local Authorities are expected to work together to improve attendance, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.The guidance is clear that schools should develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of high attendance, have a clear school attendance policy and have effective day to day processes in place to follow up absence. The guidance sets out that schools are expected to use attendance data to identify patterns of poor attendance, at individual and cohort level, as soon as possible so that all parties can work together to resolve them before they become entrenched.The Department has employed expert attendance advisers who are playing an important role working closely with Local Authorities and a number of multi-academy trusts with higher levels of persistent absence to review their current practice and support them to develop plans to improve.The Department has launched a £2.32 million attendance mentor pilot to deliver intensive one to one support to a group of persistently and severely absent pupils. The pilot will run for three years supporting a total of 1,665 pupils. The findings from this pilot should enable schools, trusts, and Local Authorities to address persistent and severe absence more effectively.The Secretary of State has also established an Alliance of national leaders from education, children’s social care and other relevant services to work together to raise school attendance and reduce persistent absence.The Department launched new attendance hubs with the Ofsted Outstanding Northern Education Trust. There are now 10 lead schools sharing their effective practice on attendance with up to 600 partner schools, reaching hundreds of thousands of pupils. This is alongside intensive support to Children in Need through Virtual Schools Heads.Schools and Local Authorities can also use a range of measures to provide support for and/or sanctions against parents when their child’s irregular attendance in school becomes a problem. These measures are used to reinforce parents’ responsibilities and to support them in improving their child’s attendance at school.

Teachers: North East

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in schools in the North East left the profession in the academic years (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in schools in the North West left the profession in the academic years (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the age of teachers in England who have left the profession in the academic years (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23.

Nick Gibb: Recent data shows that there are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England - an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes the highest number of FTE teachers since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.Of the 468,400 FTE teachers in England, 22,400 were in the North East, and 63,200 were in the North West.The Department has taken action to improve teacher workload, working with teachers and headteachers to understand and address longstanding issues around marking, planning and data management. The Department continues to work proactively with the sector to understand the drivers behind workload and wellbeing issues, and to improve policies and interventions.The Department is supporting schools to act and remove unhelpful practice that creates unnecessary workload. The School Workload Reduction Toolkit, developed alongside head teachers, is a helpful resource for schools to review and reduce workload. Further information on the workload reduction toolkit can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.The Department also worked in partnership with the education sector and mental health experts to create the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which the Department is encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. So far, 2,600 schools have signed up to the Charter. The Charter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teachers joining and leaving service nationally, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. The age of teachers in England who have left the profession in the academic years 2019/20 to 2021/22 is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f886df55-bbc3-4c72-a8a1-08db7862b3a9.Between 2019/20 and 2022/23, there was an increase of FTE teachers in the North East (from 21,723 to 22,435) and in the North West (from 61,346 to 63,247) over this period.The table below provides the latest data for academic years 2019/20 to 2021/22 of the FTE number of qualified teachers leaving and the leaving rate, from state funded schools in the North East, North West, and England.FTE qualified teachers leaving and entering and the leaving and entering rates1 from state funded schools, by geography as at November 2019 to 2021 is outlined in the table below. North EastLeaversLeaving rateEntrantsEntering rate2022/232xx2,0899.52021/2231,7808.11,7918.22020/211,5737.21,6377.52019/201,2855.91,7528.0North WestLeaversLeaving rateEntrantsEntering rate2022/23xx6,0099.72021/225,7249.35,4058.72020/214,4587.34,8177.92019/204,0696.75,4569.0EnglandLeaversLeaving rateEntrantsEntering rate2022/23xx47,95410.52021/2243,9979.744,0119.72020/2136,1798.141,7849.32019/2032,2677.345,36510.3Source: School Workforce Census 1: Leaving/entering rate is the number of leavers/entrants divided by the total number of qualified teachers in post in November each year2: For example, 2022/23 entrants are those who joined service between November 2021 and November 20223: For example, 2021/22 leavers are those who left service between November 2021 and November 2022x: 2022/23 leavers are not available yet as they will be identified by their absence from the November 2023 census.Leavers are defined as qualified teachers leaving the state funded sector in England, for example due to a change of career or joining other UK education sectors, and those leaving on career breaks such as maternity leave or secondments outside of the school sector. Some of these teachers may rejoin a state funded school in England at a later date.

Schools: Buildings

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new school buildings built since 2019 meet the standards recommended in The British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People's Classroom Acoustics – recommended standards, published in 2018.

Nick Gibb: New school buildings delivered by the Department must meet the standards set in the school Output Specification Generic Design Brief. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-requirements-part-b-generic-design-brief. The guidance requires that people with disabilities, including those with a visual or hearing impairment, should not be placed at a disadvantage by the design of the buildings or grounds.The Generic Design Brief requires that pre- and post-completion testing should be carried out in accordance with the ‘ANC Good Practice Guide for the Acoustic Testing of Schools’ published by the Association of Noise Consultants.The Department also produces guidance specifically on acoustics which can be found in Building Bulletin 93: Acoustic Design for Schools (BB93). BB93 sets out minimum performance standards for the acoustics of school buildings and describes the normal means of demonstrating compliance with the Building Regulations. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bb93-acoustic-design-of-schools-performance-standards.The Department does not collect data on how many new school buildings built since 2019 meet the acoustic classroom standards recommended by the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People.

Teachers: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in schools.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of specialist maths teachers in schools.

Nick Gibb: Recent data shows that there are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest number of FTE teachers on record since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.The Department has announced a financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting initial teacher training in the 2023/24 academic year. The Department is providing bursaries worth £27,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to teach mathematics. A Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free is also available for mathematics, as well as physics, chemistry and computing, teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools nationally, including within Education Investment Areas (EIAs).The Department has also raised starting salaries outside London by 8.9% to £28,000 and remains committed to the Government’s ambition of delivering £30,000 starting salaries to attract talented people to teaching.To support retention, the Department has worked with the education sector and published a range of resources to help address staff workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. This includes the School Workload Reduction Toolkit and the education Staff Wellbeing Charter. More information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit, and: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter. More than 2,700 schools have signed up to the Charter so far.The Department is launching a new fully funded mathematics National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for those leading mathematics teaching in primary schools. The Department will work with NPQ providers to make this available to primary schools from February 2024. Alongside this, an updated Targeted Support Fund will be offered for the 2023/24 academic year, providing additional funding to incentivise primary school teachers and leaders, including in the smallest schools.The Department is providing funding to support and enhance mathematics teaching across the country. Reform of the mathematics curriculum and examinations system was accompanied by the introduction of a National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, which is now working with a network of 40 maths hubs to help local schools improve the quality of their teaching based on best practice from East Asia. On 17 April, the Secretary of State announced plans to extend the support available from maths hubs from academic year 2023/24. This was accompanied by plans to provide more intensive maths hubs support to schools that need it most.

Literacy: Primary Education

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2023 to Question 189737 Primary Education: Boys, whether her Department has produced research on interventions at Key Stage 1 and 2 that have closed attainment gaps in (a) literacy and (b) phonics between boys and girls.

Nick Gibb: The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards for all pupils, regardless of gender. English is fundamental to education and provides the skills and knowledge pupils need to communicate with others, both in school and in the wider world. Language in the early years is also associated with long-term employment outcomes. Children with poor vocabulary at age five are more than twice as likely to be unemployed at age 34 as children with good vocabulary, according to research which is available at: https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/20.500.12289/1057/eResearch_1057.pdf?sequence=1.By ensuring high quality systematic synthetic phonics teaching, the Government wants to improve literacy levels to give all children a solid base upon which to build as they progress through school, and help children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Sutton Trust are, together, the Government-designated What Works Centre for Education. The EEF has carried out a comprehensive review of robust studies on the effects of phonics. They found that phonics is more effective on average than other approaches for early reading, when embedded in a rich literacy environment. Phonics approaches have been consistently found to be effective in supporting younger readers to master the basics of reading, with an average impact of an additional four months’ progress.Since 2010, the Government has accelerated the effective teaching of phonics, by placing it at the heart of the curriculum and introducing the annual phonics screening check in 2012 for pupils at the end of Year 1.The recent publication of the international literacy study, Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021, showed England was among the top scoring countries, coming fourth out of the 43 countries that tested children of the same age. The performance of England’s pupils in PIRLS 2021 remained stable after significant improvements in 2011 and 2016. As well as the overall success, both the gender gap and the gap between the highest and lowest achievers have continued to narrow, driven in the long term by the improvement of the scores of boys and the lowest attainers. Researchers have found that the Phonics Screening Checks (PSC) score was the most significant predictor of PIRLS performance.In 2018, the Department also launched the £60 million English Hubs Programme to improve the teaching of reading, with a focus on phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. The English Hubs have delivered intensive support to 1,700 schools to date. Departmental analysis shows that partner schools supported by the English Hubs Programme outperformed other schools by around seven percentage points in their PSC.

Women and Equalities

Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of the Workers Protection (Amendment to the Equality Act 2010) Bill.

Maria Caulfield: Everyone should be able to live without fear of harassment or violence, in the workplace as much as anywhere else. The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill, introduced by Wera Hobhouse MP, originated from a Government consultation on sexual harassment in the workplace that received more than 4,000 responses detailing people’s lived reality of harassment in the workplace. While the Equality Act 2010 already contains a robust legal framework for tackling workplace harassment, the measures in the Bill will not only strengthen protections for those affected by harassment at work; but also motivate employers to improve workplace practices and culture and prioritise prevention.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department produced a ministerial response under the write round process to the Department for Education's review of the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum.

Sir John Whittingdale: The Secretary of State for Education has been clear she is very concerned about reports of inappropriate materials being used to teach relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). The Government has brought forward the review of the RSHE statutory guidance as a result, including conducting a public consultation as soon as possible.The statutory guidance clearly states that the guidance will be reviewed every three years from first teaching (September 2020) and so the decision to review the guidance does not require collective agreement. The Secretary of State for Education will seek collective agreement to the consultation documents through a write-round process, before publishing the consultation in the autumn. This process is not yet underway.As part of the review, an expert panel has been established to advise the Secretary of State on what topics should and should not be taught in school and the introduction of age limits. This will provide clear guidance for teachers about when certain topics can be addressed.In tandem with this work, the Oak National Academy is producing a suite of materials to support teachers to create age-appropriate lesson plans and ensure that they have access to appropriate materials.The Government is determined to make sure RSHE teaching leaves children equipped to make informed decisions about their health, wellbeing and relationships, in a sensitive way that reflects their stage of development.The Government expects new statutory guidance to be released in the coming months. It will then be subject to public consultation to conclude by the end of the year, coming into statutory force as soon as possible after that.

Ministry of Defence

France: Military Alliances

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to strengthen the UK’s defence strategic partnership with France since February 2022.

James Heappey: The Integrated Review Refresh recognised France as one of our most important European partners. Through the 2023 UK-France Summit, we reaffirmed our commitment to the defence and security partnership of the 2010 Lancaster House Treaties. We also agreed to deepen our capability and defence industrial cooperation. The UK and France have also committed to progress activity to ensure mutually interoperability of weapons and platforms. British and French forces regularly operate alongside each other. This includes joint participation in the UK-led NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup in Estonia - and combined exercising, including in the French Croix Du Sud exercise in April 2023 in the Pacific, and Exercise Orion 23 in May 2023 in Europe.

Global Combat Air Programme

Mark Logan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support the Global Combat Air Programme between the UK, Japan and Italy.

James Cartlidge: The UK has a £10 billion budget to support the programme over the next ten years. We have invested £1 billion in R&D to develop the skills and technologies required, with a further £1 billion planned. This has been supported by an further significant investment from our core UK industry partners (BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo UK, MBDA UK). Together, we are delivering advanced industrial technologies including digital design and additive manufacturing facilities, as at BAE Systems' Factory of the Future in Lancashire, and recruiting people from across the country with specialist skills in areas such as software engineering.

Army

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2023 to Question 191777 on Army answered on 5 July 2023, what the roles are of the 28,306 army personnel who are not classified as having combat or combat support roles.

James Heappey: The 28,306 Army personnel who are not classified as having "Combat" or "Combat Support" roles are those classified as "Combat Service Support", which covers The Royal Logistic Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and those classified as "Other", which covers the Royal Army Chaplain's Department, Adjutant General's Corps, Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Small Arms School Corps, Royal Army Physical Training Corps, Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, and Royal Corps of Army Music.